One of the wonders of the ‘ancient’ world is made out of polystyrene

The world-famous pyramids of Egypt, previously thought to be many thousands of years old, were actually constructed in 1901 in an effort to boost tourism, it has been revealed.

The sensational discovery was made last week by a tourist from Birmingham, who while trying to chisel a souvenir fragment from the Great Pyramid of Giza found that below a thin layer of painted crust the block was made from polystyrene and weighed little more than a kilogram.

Further investigation quickly revealed that the entire structure is a fake, as are the other pyramids in the area. Unconfirmed reports are claiming the Sphinx of Giza is made from papier-mâché.

The Egyptian government has so far officially remained silent, but various sources have been confirming one of the world’s great architectural wonders is indeed just a publicity stunt.

One senior government source, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “It is quite true. All of it. We really thought we had gotten away with that one. Most people had never heard of Egypt in 1901, and this was causing the tourism board great frustration. The decision was made to create something and say it was really old, because we had observed that tourists enjoy looking at old things.”

But, as is often the case, one lie led to a tangled web. The government source went on to say: “We had no idea how effective our marketing stunt would be. Suddenly the whole world started talking about Egypt, and people started asking us how our pyramids got there.

“We didn’t know what to tell them, so created a special government body whose code-name translates to: The Underlying Truth About Not Knowing How Amazing Monuments Uplifted Nation (Tutankhamun).

“These people were tasked with protecting our big secret, and for more than 100 years succeeded. Alas, the time has now come to own up about our great pyramid scheme.”